Victor Mikhailovich Vasilenko (1905 – 1991) – Doctor of Art History, professor at Moscow State University, member of the Union of Artists since 1940. Graduated from the Moscow State University (Department of Theory and History of Art) in 1930. In 1944 he defended his Ph.D. thesis "The Northern Carved Bone. Kholmogory, Tobolsk, Chukotka". He was the participant of scientific expeditions and creative expeditions dedicated to the research on the state of handicrafts.


Since 1947 he was repressed and was in exile till 1956. In 60s he continued his creative and professional activities. The collection contains manuscripts of his monographs, articles, essays and papers: "On Certain Questions of Composition", "On Ornament Motifs of Old Russian Folk Art", "At the Origin of Russian Decorative Art", "Artistic Analysis in Decorative and Applied Art" and others. In 1974 he defended his doctoral dissertation "Russian folk art XVIII-XX centuries. Art culture of the Russian village" and was awarded the title of professor in the history of Russian and Soviet art in the history department of Moscow State University. During these years he became the author of the books "Folk Art", "Soviet Folk Art and Art Industry" (the collection contains galleys of the books), as well as monographs, articles and essays on the applied arts of old Russia, the creativity of folk artists in Russia and Ukraine.

There are also personal documents of Victor Mikhailovich and his wife Alexandra Mikhailovna, compiled by Victor Mikhailovich history of the Vassilenko family, correspondence with famous art historians, artists and craftsmen. A large section consists of documents of teaching activities, poetic heritage of Victor Mikhailovich and visual materials.